February. The month of cold nights and somewhat bearable days… the month of flannel and comfy socks… hot toddies and hot chocolate… evenings snuggled on the couch beneath a warm blanket…
The month of chocolates, flowers, and flimsy lingerie… candlelit dinners and decadent desserts… cards and balloons… whispering ‘I love you’… The month that resembles everything in a Hallmark movie or between the pages of a romance book. If you’re like me, you most likely indulge in both; anything to get your romance on. I favor a hero who’s tall, dark, and handsome, who wears a Stetson and Wranglers and has a devilish twinkle in his eye… Oh, who am I kidding? As long as he’s charming, loyal, and caring, he doesn’t need the Stetson, just the Wranglers! (I’m joshing… maybe. There’s nothing sexier than a man in a pair of Wranglers.)
But, in wearing Wranglers, does he have to be a cowboy? Probably not. Throughout the years, I’ve read several different types of heroes; CEO’s, sports players, pirates, army men, rich lords, Vikings, and the ever popular 1980’s sullen type with a chip on his shoulder… who was quick with a comeback… who wooed women to bed and then snuck away before the crack of dawn. He was the black sheep of the family and, if lucky, had one good friend. He was someone with a painful secret… who guarded his heart fiercely… who desperately needed to be loved. Someone who redeemed his callous, selfish ways by the end of story and won the reader’s heart.
Two such books from that timeframe featured heroes of this nature, and it was because of the authors who brought them to life and took the reader on their journey to happy-ever-after that I decided to try my hand at writing. Each hero is condescending, callous, dashing, daring, witty, and in need of a heroine who is not only strong enough to heal their bruised souls, but to tame them without shredding them of their identity. I loved Nick and James back then and I love them today, and I hope you will, too. (Each can be found on Amazon)
Nick Sinclair, the ruggedly handsome president of Global Industries, handles his business the way he handles his women: with charm, daring, and complete self-control. When he hires Lauren Danner, he assumes the whip-smart beauty will be another easy conquest but much to his surprise, her wit and rare spirit dazzles him and he slowly finds himself falling in love.
Yet he has no idea that Lauren is living a lie, one that is becoming more
dangerous with every passing moment. Trapped in a web of deceit, she fights her
growing love for Nick and the promise of life with the most compelling man she
has ever met.
Heartsick and desperate to return home to America, Georgina Anderson boards the Maiden Anne disguised as a cabin boy, never dreaming she'll be forced into intimate servitude at the whim of the ship's irrepressible captain, James Mallory.
The black sheep of
a proud and tempestuous family, the handsome ex-pirate once swore no woman
alive could entice him into matrimony. But on the high seas his resolve will be
weakened by an unrestrained passion and by the high-spirited beauty whose love
of freedom and adventure rivals his own.
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